To prepare for university study, high schoolers need to develop a variety of skills including literary analysis, historical inquiry, and written and oral communications. Students should also be exposed to a variety of important pieces of literature to help them develop ideas about their world and history.  Reading the Great Books is like having a conversation with the great minds of the past, and engaging some of the foundational and developmental ideas of our world.

This ongoing course will explore foundational pieces of world literature that are necessary for students hoping to pursue a university education.  In this course, we will read and discuss a variety of pieces of world literature from a variety of genres.  Each week, we will focus on a new piece, and students can join at any point without any prior knowledge necessary to participate.  We will learn how to analyze literature, discuss our positions orally, and argue our position in writing.  Each week we will discuss a piece of literature, and students will be offered a writing assignment to complete over the week for individualized feedback.  I will provide historical context for each piece, as well as a discussion of the genre of literature that each piece represents.  We will explore themes and ideas about human nature, society, and the individual, among other key topics throughout our readings.  

Reading assignments will come from the list of The Great Books found here https://www.greatbookstudy.com/p/books.html, as well as other key texts from a variety of cultures and time periods.

SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM TO SEE RECENT DATES.  ALL DATES ARE LISTED BY THE MONDAY DATE OF EACH WEEK.

2021-Week of March 1-Poetry of Langston Hughes
Week of March 8-Plato's Apology
Week of March 15-Metamorphosis by Kafka
Week of March 22-The Stranger by Camus
Week of March 29-1984 by Orwell
Week of April 5-Heart of Darkness by Conrad
Week of April 12- Antigone by Sophocles
Week of May 3-The Inferno by Dante
Week of May 10-As I Lay Dying--Faulkner
Week of May 17-The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man--Joyce
Week of May 24-Fahrenheit 451 by Bradbury
Week of May 31-The Birds by Aristophanes
Week of June 3- Candide by Voltaire
Week of June 7-No class this week
Week of June 14-Note the later meeting time for this week only  The Lottery by Shirley Jackson
Week of June 21-No class this week
Week of June 28-Of Mice and Men-Steinbeck
Week of July 5-Grapes of Wrath-Steinbeck
Week of July 12-Great Expectations--Dickens
Week of July 19-The Prince-Machiavelli
Week of July 26-The Crucible-Miller
Week of August 2-Frankenstein--Shelley
Week of August 9-Tartuffe--Moliere
Week of August 16--Selections from The Canterbury Tales--Chaucer (see classroom this week)
Week of August 23--Don Quixote--Cervantes
Week of August 30--cancelled
Week of September 6--Gulliver's Travels--Swift
Week of September 13-Medea by Euripides
Week of Sept 20-Mother Courage and Her Children by Brecht
Week of Sept 27-A Farewell to Arms by Hemmingway
Week of Oct 4-Wuthering Heights by Bronte
Week of Oct 11-Aeneid by Virgil 
Week of Oct 18-Midsummer's Nights' Dream-Shakespeare
Week of Oct 25-Gawain and the Green Knight
Week of Nov 1-Malory, Le Morte d’Arthur
Week of Nov 8-Faustus, Marlowe
Week of Nov 15-Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan
Week of Nov 22- No class
Week of Nov 29-The Awakening by Chopin
Week of Dec 6-The Waste Land by Eliot
Week of Dec 13-The Jungle by Sinclair
Week of Dec 20-No class
Week of Dec 27-Emma by Austen
2022-Week of Jan 3-The Iliad by Homer
Week of Jan 10-Merchant of Venice by Shakespeare
Week of Jan 17-All's Quiet on the Western Front by Remarque
Week of Jan 24-Go Tell It on the Mountain by Baldwin
Week of March 7-Catcher in the Rye by Salinger
Week of March 14-The Underdogs by Mariano Azuela
Week of March 21-The General in his Labyrinth by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Week of March 28-Oman Ra by Viktor Pelevin
Week of April 4--No class
Week of April 11-Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
Week of April 18-Odyssey by Homer
Week of April 25-Oliver Twist by Dickens
Week of May 2-The Call of the Wild by London
Week of May 9-The Last of the Mohicans by Cooper
Week of May 16-The Glass Menagerie by Williams
Week of May 23-To Build a Fire by London
Week of May 30-The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock by Eliot
Week of June 6-No class
Week of June 13-The Story of Ah-Q by Lu Xun
Week of June 20-The Nose by Nikolai Gogol
Week of June 27-The Sun Also Rises by Hemmingway
Week of July 11-Catch-22 by Heller
Week of July 18-No class
Week of July 25-Of Mice and Men by Steinbeck
Week of August 1-No class
Week of August 8-Jane Eyre by Bronte
Week of August 15-Candide by Voltaire
Week of August 29-Oedipus Rex by Sophocles
Week of Sept 5-Animal Farm by Orwell
Week of Sept 12-A Doll House by Ibsen
Week of Sept 19-Medea by Euripides
Week of Sept 26-The Mayor of Casterbridge by Hardy
Week of Oct 3-Walden by Thoreau
Week of Oct 10-No class
Week of Oct 17-A Separate Peace by Knowles
Week of Oct 24-Metamorphosis by Kafka
Week of Oct 31-The Stranger by Camus
Week of Nov 7-1984 by Orwell
Week of Nov 14Heart of Darkness by Conrad
Week of Nov 21-No class
Week of Nov 28-Antigone by Sophocles
Week of Dec 5-Things Fall Apart by Achebe
Week of Dec 12-Great Expectations--Dickens
Week of Dec 19-No Class
Week of Dec 26-No Class
2023--Week of Jan 2-To Build a Fire by London  https://americanenglish.state.gov/files/ae/resource_files/to-build-a-fire.pdf
Week of Jan 9-My Last Duchess by Browning and The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by Eliot
Week of Jan 16-Brave New World by Huxley
Week of Jan 23-How Green Was My Valley by Llewellyn
Week of Jan 30-Our Town by Wilder
Week of Feb 6-Pygmalion by Shaw
Week of Feb 13-A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Solzhenitsyn
Week of Feb 20-The Glass Menagerie by Williams
Week of Feb 27-The Seige of Krishnapur by Farrell
Week of March 6-King Lear-Shakespeare
Week of March 13-Jane Eyre-Bronte
Week of March 20-East of Eden-Steinbeck
Week of March 27-The Awakening by Chopin
Week of April 3-The Scarlet Letter-Hawthorne
Week of April 10-Oman Ra by Viktor Pelevin
Week of April 17-The Stranger by Camus
Week of April 24-The Importance of Being Earnest--Oscar Wilde
Week of May 1-Sense and Sensibility-Jane Austen
Week of May 8-Oedipus Rex by Sophocles 
Week of May 15-The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov
Week of May 22-Obasan by Joy Kogawa
Week of May 29-Everything that Rises Must Converge--Flannery O'Connor
Week of June 5-Catch-22 by Heller
Week of June 12-Bartleby the Scrivener by Melville
Week of June 19-Shooting an Elephant by Orwell
Week of June 26-The Yellow Wallpaper by Gilman
Week of July 3-NO Class
Week of July 10-NO Class
Week of July 17-NO CLASS
Week of July 24-Merchant of Venice by Shakespeare
Week of July 31-NO CLASS
Week of August 7-The True Story of Ah-Q by Lu Xun
Week of August 14-Metamorphosis by Kafka
Week of August 21-A Doll House by Ibsen
Week of August 28-Wuthering Heights by Bronte
Week of September 4- Antigone by Sophocles
Week of September 11-no class
Week of Sept 18-1984 by Orwell
Week of Sept 25-Heart of Darkness by Conrad
Week of Oct 2-Things Fall Apart by Achebe
Week of Oct 9-Beowulf
Week of Oct 16-The Prince-Machiavelli
Week of Oct 23-The Crucible-Miller
Week of Oct 30-Frankenstein--Shelley
Week of Nov 6-Tartuffe by Moliere
Week of Nov 13-Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin
Week of Nov 20-No Class
Week of Nov 27-The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov
Week of Dec 4-A Separate Peace by John Knowles
Week of Dec 11-The Nose by Nikolai Gogol
Week of Dec 18-No class
Week of Dec 25-No class
2024-
Week of Jan 1-Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
Week of Jan 8-The Seige of Krishnapur by Farrell
Week of Jan 15-East of Eden-Steinbeck
Week of Jan 22-The Awakening by Chopin 
Week of Jan 29-The Mayor of Casterbridge by Hardy
Week of Feb 5-Walden by Thoreau
Week of Feb 12-The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock by Eliot and My Last Duchess by Browning
Week of Feb 19-How Green Was My Valley by Llewellyn
Week of Feb 26-Our Town by Wilder
Week of March 4-Pygmalion by Shaw
Week of March 11-The Glass Menagerie by Williams
Week of March 18-The Story of Ah-Q by Lu Xun
Week of March 25-The Sun Also Rises by Hemmingway
Week of April 1-A Doll House by Ibsen
Week of April 8-NO CLASS
Week of April 15-Medea by Euripides
Week of April 22-Brave New World by Huxley
Week of April 29-A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Solzhenitsyn
Week of May 6-Mother Courage and Her Children by Brecht
Week of May 13-Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by Joyce
Week of May 20-Pride and Prejudice
Week of May 27-Silas Marner by Eliot
Week of June 3-The Crucible by Miller
Week of June 10-Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare
Week of June 17-Jane Eyre by Bronte
Week of June 24-Agamemnon by Aeschylus
Week of July 1-NO CLASS
Week of July 8-Wuthering Heights by Bronte
Week of July 15-Othello by Shakespeare
Week of July 22-The Jungle by Sinclair
Week of July 29-Ivanhoe by Scott
Week of Aug 5-Three by Flannery O'Connor
Week of Aug 12-The Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck
Week of Aug 19-Plato's Republic
Week of Aug 26-White Fang by London
Week of Sept 2-Frankenstein by Shelley
Week of Sept 9-A Farewell to Arms by Hemmingway
Week of Sept 16-Hard Times by Dickens
Week of Sept 23-Metamorphosis by Kafka
Week of Sept 30-The Stranger by Camus
Week of Oct 7-1984 by Orwell
Week of Oct 14-Heart of Darkness by Conrad
Week of Oct 21-Emma-Austen
Week of Oct 28-Tom Sawyer-Twain
Week of Nov 4-Animal Farm by Orwell
Week of Nov 11-Heart of Darkness by Conrad
Week of Nov 18-Things Fall Apart by Achebe
Week of Nov 25-No class
Week of Dec 2-Beowulf
Week of Dec 9-Picture of Dorian Gray-Wilde
Week of Dec 16-The Crucible-Miller
Week of Dec 23-No class
Week of Dec 30-No class
Week of Jan 6-Frankenstein--Shelley
Week of Jan 13-Phantom of the Opera-Leroux
Week of Jan 20-Anne of Green Gables-Montgomery
Week of Jan 27-The Princess Bride-Goldman
Week of Feb 3-The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle by Irving
Week of Feb 10-The Brothers Grimm Fairytales
Week of Feb 17-